Clemons Classic: Noles upend New Smyrna, advance into finals

BRADENTON -- Tuesday night the Southeast girls took down New Smyrna Beach 62-46 in the second round of the Willie Clemons Holiday Classic, but this game was much more competitive than the score indicates.

The Cudas came into the game with 16 wins and no losses, but the Seminoles gave them competition they haven't seen all season.

"That's a good team over there, we knew that coming into the game, but we've been tested and it helped prepare us for this matchup," Southeast coach John Harder said.

New Smyrna Beach (16-1) jumped out to an early lead in part because of the play from point guard Sha'Kwanza Brown and her ability to get into the paint and create open shots for her team.

The Seminoles (12-3) took a 27-24 lead into halftime, but came out in the second half with a different game plan on how to attack the Cudas' bigs in the post and contain Brown.

"We backed off Brown and allowed her to shoot the three ball while packing in the paint and taking away her ability to break us down," Harder said. "The girls also knew with the size they have in the paint, we would need to hit some outside shots to give us a chance."

Point guard Breyonna Reed led Southeast, scoring 17 of her team high 20 points in the second half connecting on four 3s, while dishing out seven assists and tallying six steals.

"I'm not going to lie, it was nice to hit those shots from deep," Reed said. "I love getting my girls quality shots, but tonight I knew I needed to be more aggressive offensively."

Shauntavia Green stole a pass, took it coast to coast and connected on an and-one layup, giving the Seminoles a 44-37 lead with six minutes left in the fourth quarter.

From that point, Southeast used an 18-9 run, capped off by a Marline Valcin jumper with a little over a minute left pushing the lead to 57-42.

Carmella Waller led the Cudas with 15 points, while Jermera McRae chipped in 14 points, but they couldn't overcome the pressure the Seminoles applied in the second half.

"Our team just couldn't get into a rhythm in the second half, and because of that we took bad shots and force some things," New Smyrna Beach head coach James Henry said. "It's frustrating, but we just didn't execute down the stretch and they did."

Faith Mays added 14 points, nine rebounds and five steals for Southeast as they prepare for a showdown Wednesday night against Palmetto in the championship game.

"I was able to hit my first few layups early and that gave me confidence," Mays said. "I wasn't concerned with them or their size in the post, It was just me and the ball."

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Clemons Classic: Noles upend New Smyrna, advance into finals ."